Transformations Part Two
by Aenya Phoenix
Summary: Rachel finally makes it to her first world, where she finds that maybe nothing that she dreams of is really impossible...  Warning: possible "M" rating to come for relationship purposes  if I feel like it
1. Fire

Iggy had been the one to hear it. Down, down, down, far below him in the canyon, some unexplainable sound. It was like a metallic sound that stretched and then popped. He couldn't describe it any better than that.

"Gazzy, did you hear that?" he asked the blond eight-year-old flying beside him. Wait, no, the Gasman was nine now; the flock had all turned a year older just two months ago. And yes, the two of them could fly. As in, with wings. All of the flock could. Just something you get used to.

"Where?" There was no question or doubt when Iggy heard something. He had the best hearing out of all the flock. One of the few (very few) perks of being blind.

"Down below us. In the canyon. Wanna investigate?" Iggy paused as he waited for a verbal reply.

"I'm nodding, Iggy," said the nine-year-old. And that was one of the many non-perks of being blind—missing the non-verbal replies. Iggy tilted down at a slow curve towards the location he had heard the sound. The wind whipped through his feathers as he dive-bombed into the trees below them. He could hear Gazzy crashing through the branches with him noisily. "So, I guess it's nothing dangerous?" the Gasman asked cautiously.

Iggy stopped their descent and landed on a thick branch in tall tree. He felt the rough bark under his hands as he crouched, sniffing lightly and inhaling the scent of pine and dust and soil. They couldn't have been farther than fifteen feet from the ground. "No, I don't think so. It sounded a bit metallic," he heard Gazzy's small gasp and quickly added, "but it didn't sound like Flyboy. Not really the 'I'm here to gun you down' kind of sound."

Iggy tried to listen in again, but he couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary. Birds chirping and little bugs buzzing around doing their little buggy thing. "Just be on your guard," said Iggy—unnecesarily, since they were always on guard. "I'm going in blind here. What do you see?" He waited for the Gasman's response, hating having to use that bit of stupid humor in regard to his lack of sight. But he had to. He couldn't let the flock see how much he hurt over one stupid sense.

"Umm…. Not much. I wanna stick to the branches and have a look around." Iggy felt the light brush on his hand that pointed him in the right direction. He hated having to need that little gesture, but kept it to himself. Again.

The two bird-kids leapt as stealthily as they could from branch, perfectly silent but probably not unseen. Iggy kept "watch" as far ahead and below as he could, listening for both the Gasman's movement and for hostile movement below them. It was a talent he had learned fast, what with being on the run all the time and all.

So as soon as he heard the boy in front of him stop, Iggy immediately waited. Sure enough, "Iggy, twenty feet ahead on the ground at 11 o'clock. I think I see something."

"What is it?" Iggy whispered back, listening intently where Gazzy told him to. He thought that maybe he could hear a slight breath, but it was too light a sound to make sure.

"I think it's…" Gazzy went silent, shifting his weight and trying to get a better look. "It looks like…. Red? Like red hair, I think?"

"Red hair?"

The two shifted quietly onto a lower branch to try to give Gazzy a better look. He gasped and immediately covered his mouth in an attempt to silence the sound. "What is it?" Iggy hissed through his teeth.

"It's a girl! A red-headed girl lying on the floor! Her back is turned to us so I can't see her face but she's not moving." The boys quickly dropped to the floor and hid behind the trunks of two trees, Gazzy peering around his to make sure the red-headed body wasn't moving, and Iggy listening for its breath from behind his. After a minute or so of this, the slight crunch of Gazzy's foot on a twig let Iggy know to move forward.

The girl still didn't even twitch by the time they had gotten within ten feet of her. "Ready for an up, up, and away if she moves," Iggy told Gazzy. He listened for the sound her breathing, which would have been deep and relatively noisy if she was sleeping. He couldn't hear it at all.

Holy shit, what if she was dead? What was a dead girl doing in the middle of the effing canyon? Iggy gasped. This could be a trap. Some sick, twisted trap set up by Dr. Gunter-Haboodle (whatever his name was) or Mr. Chu (also known as Robert) or somebody. Gazzy froze and looked back at him. "What?" the words came out through his teeth, barely audible.

But on the other hand, this girl might need some serious help. And they were probably the only people in God knows how far who would be willing to help.

Help out a total stranger. In the middle of the woods. In a _canyon._ The flock had learned not to deal with strangers or being alone.

Iggy chewed on his lip in thought before moving forward. "We can't trust her. Fold in your wings a bit so she won't be able to see them, but keep 'em out." Whoever she was, he couldn't just leave her there without atleast making sure she was dead first.

The two knelt down slowly, Gazzy's eyes darting around them while Iggy inspected her. His sensitive fingers reached out to find her. "Ah!" He snatched his hands away as if he felt something hot. It was only a color, but it wasn't a color he'd ever felt before. It was almost like fire in his hands. Maybe not quite, but definitely close to what he thought fire might have felt like.

"What is it?" Gazzy hissed, but Iggy ignored him and reached for the color again. He felt the almost-fire touch his fingertips again, but this time he didn't pull away. As he stroked it, he realized it was her hair. "Wow, when you said red, I didn't think you meant like this…"

Her hair had a bit of golden-blonde and brown in it, mingling with masses of dark cherry and vibrant crimson. Iggy almost wasn't able to stop himself from pushing his fingers further in and twirling them around it.

"Forget her hair. Let's just see if she's dead or not so we can get out of here. This place is starting to give me the creeps."

Gazzy's annoyance brought Iggy back to the present. He was surprised at himself a little when he noticed it kind of stung to hear his friend talk about this girl being dead. He turned his attention back to whether or not she was breathing.

Keeping his fingers laced in that vibrant color (there wasn't really any reason to move them anyways..), he lowered his cheek close to her mouth, trying to feel the air passing through it. Iggy sighed in relief as he felt a warm wisp of air there. She was just unconscious. Not gone, Iggy, just unconscious.

Iggy sat up straight and turned towards Gazzy, not even thinking before he spoke.

"She's alive. We're taking her back home."


	2. Needing Help

Gazzy just stared at him for a minute. Iggy could feel his eyes boring into the back of his head as he tried to get the girl's backpack off of her so she could lie flat. He knew what an incredibly stupid thing he had just said; he just demanded they help a complete stranger. Someone they knew nothing about. That went against everything they had ever learned in their short, hard, bird-kid lives. Max would be pissed at him when he brought her home.

Iggy finally managed to wriggle out the girl's backpack from under her and he felt her settle on her back in the dead leaves of the canyon floor. He held out the backpack for Gazzy to take and, when the boy didn't, he set it on the floor beside him.

"What do you mean 'We're taking her home'? Whatever happened to 'We can't trust her. Up, up, and away if she moves'?" Even though Gazzy was hissing the words at him, each time he quoted Iggy he mimicked the older boy perfectly. It almost sounded as if Iggy was talking to himself.

"Look, I can't just leave her here," Iggy still had his fingers in her vibrant hair, not really wanting to let go of it. "She could die if she stays out here alone."

Gazzy realized that his brother wasn't going to take no from anyone except maybe Max. " Iggy, we don't know anything about her. She could be an agent of whate-"

"Check her bag," Iggy interrupted, "and if there's anything in there that screams 'Evil!' or 'Out to get you' then we'll leave her here." Somehow, Iggy knew that Gazzy wouldn't find anything. What would an unconscious girl do out here with a machine gun in her backpack?

He waited, not facing his younger brother as he unzipped and rifled through her pack. Since he knew the Gasman wasn't paying attention to him, Iggy shifted his fingers through the mystery girl's hair. He could feel little strands of gold in the crimson red that made it seem almost alive to his touch and, when he went in a little further, the gold-crimson turned into crimson-cherry and then further into a light mahogany. He loved it.

"Alright, so there's nothing in here but some camping stuff and a spare change of clothes. But that doesn't change anything! She could have a tracking device implanted in her or something! She could kill us in our sleep! Max will be really mad!"

Iggy could hear the Gasman's arguments get weaker and weaker. He didn't pay them any attention as he tried to lift the girl up. He slid his arms around her and pulled. Holy crap, she was heavy! She felt really slender but she was pretty sturdy. He managed to get her to a sitting position. There was no way he could take her back by himself.

"Gazzy, please," Iggy looked up at the younger boy without seeing him, putting on his best hopeless "help me" face. "I can't do this by myself. I need your help." He knew the face was working when he heard the nine-year-old shift his weight from foot to foot anxiously. It was a little habit of Gazzy's whenever he wasn't sure of himself.

"Iggy…." The boy hesitated, still shifting. "We can't just….."

"Please, Gazzy. What if she dies…?" Iggy was a little surprised to hear the desperation in his own voice, but he didn't show it. He knew it worked more to his cause.

Gazzy's groan of defeat felt amazingly good to Iggy and he rewarded the bird-kid with a huge grin. "Thanks, Gazzy. Could you try lifting her legs?"

The boy grunted before lending a hand. They both got on either end of the girl, Iggy with his arms around her torso and Gazzy trying to get a good hold on her legs. On the count of three, they lifted. Huffing with effort, they only managed to hold her suspended for three seconds before they plopped her back down to the floor.

"Wow!" Gazzy gasped as he dropped her legs. "She doesn't look this heavy!"

Iggy got the girl back into a sitting position before he responded. "I know. We're gonna need help with her, that's for sure."

The younger bird-kid was a little nervous when he spoke. "I don't think Max is gonna help with this one…"

"What about Dylan?" Dylan was the newest addition to the Flock and, although he wasn't as fast of a flyer as Max yet, he definitely had more muscle. The only problem with that was he might not come quietly. He was puppydog over Max and he asked for her permission for everything. Both Gazzy and Iggy knew that Max would never allow it.

"He could work… but Max is still the issue." Sometimes Iggy hated Max's decisions, but they all knew why she was leader. She had saved their bacon more times than they often liked to admit.

"Look, we should go back and try to convince him. Maybe we could ask him to stay quiet about it for a day… Let's just go and talk to him."

Iggy shook his head. "You go. I'll stay here with her in case she wakes up." He tried to keep his tone even and merely cautious. He didn't want Gazzy to know how attached he had already gotten to the unconscious girl. He wasn't fooling anyone.

"Iggy, I'll go, but I don't know why you care about her so much. Just make sure you won't blink before beating the snot out of her if she attacks. I'll be back soon. Careful."

Iggy nodded, his face expressionless as he heard his friend jump and whip out his wings, pumping a few times to clear the trees. He turned back the unconscious girl and layed her back down again.

Of course he would be ready for her attack. He knew he couldn't trust her. Right?


	3. Iggy, Gazzy, Dylan, and Heavy Cargo

It had taken Gazzy the better half of an hour to get back to Iggy with Dylan. When the blind bird-kid heard them finally drop to the forest floor, he couldn't help but think that it wouldn't have taken Fang as long to agree with them. Fang had always been like that. If they told him that they needed help with something that Max couldn't know about right away, he would have just helped them out. To Iggy, Fang was sometimes like the fun dad of the group, always willing to let slide the things that Mother Max wouldn't. _Yeah, _Iggy reminded himself, _the fun dad that left._

During the time it had taken for the other boys to come back, Iggy had already decided that Max wouldn't even be an issue. When Fang left, she became an empty shell. Still, two weeks after that scumbag decided he knew what was best for the flock, Max would just stay in her room for most of the day, looking through the jerk's computer full of his old files. She would just sit there and read them over and over again, as if that would bring him back. Some days she would try to assume command and be the tough leader again, but they could still see right through her. Everything Max did was half-hearted.

Dylan was the only one who could really get through to her. He seemed to know Max inside and out, not that any of that was Max's choice. She never let him in, or anyone else, now that Fang left. Iggy figured that she probably despised Dylan now. But the boy was amazingly alike to her. Even as he listened to Dylan and Gazzy walk over to him, he could hear the similarities in the taller boy's stride to Max's. Maybe he really was made for her.

"Do you know, at least, what happened to her?" the newest bird-kid asked Iggy. The tone in the boys voice was not exactly a happy one.

Iggy had spent some time thinking on that too while he was waiting, but he couldn't just outright admit that he had no idea. The sound she made that lead him to discover her was totally unexplained. He had sifted through her backpack too when Gazzy left and the only thing metallic that he found in there was a flashlight. And the fact that she was unconscious wasn't determined either. Iggy had felt around her scalp and forehead for any signs of bruising, like she hit her head or something, but she was completely clear there. And her breath felt moist enough so he didn't think she was dehydrated. It didn't smell tainted or anything either.

"Well, I checked her head and her breath but I can't see any reason why she could've passed out." Iggy hated having to admit it, but he knew that the situation was already suspicious to Dylan. There really wasn't any way to get around it. "Look," Iggy addressed Dylan as directly as he could, "I know that this may be a really stupid idea, but I refuse to leave her here. I won't have her die if I knew there was something I could've done to help her. All I'm asking is that you help me help her by just getting her to the house. That's all I want. You can tell Max right when we get there if you want but I don't want to just le-"

Iggy was cut off by Dylan. "What if she already has a family that is looking for her right now? What if she's a runaway or something and she has people that are going to be searching for her here? They'll bring helicopters and search parties and eventually, they might discover our house. Bringing her there could endanger the entire family!"

Iggy hadn't thought about all that, but he didn't show it. "I know it's a risk but I need her somewhere safe, at least so we can keep an eye on her. If she's a threat," he hated saying the next part but he knew it was necessary, "we can just knock her out again and put her back where she was."

He decided now was the time to use his helpless face again. He tried to put all his emotion into it and he "looked" back and forth from where Dylan was standing, to Gazzy, and back again. Gazzy started shifting from foot to foot again, but Dylan just stood there, no doubt considering Iggy in his silence.

"Please, guys," Iggy made sure to make his voice as desperate and pleading as he could, which, to his surprise, wasn't all that hard. "I'll tell Max about her myself if I have to." He knew it was a long shot, but he figured the best way for him to bribe the boys would be to take their bullet. Not that Iggy actually believed there really would be a bullet to dodge, but the point was in the gesture.

He could practically feel Dylan's eyes burning holes into him as he waited for a response. Iggy got more and more tense as the seconds of silence ticked by, hearing Dylan's arm cross as the boy thought about it. Finally, he spoke. "You're telling Max as soon as we get there."

Iggy almost couldn't contain his sigh of relief, but he gave Dylan and Gazzy the biggest smile he could. "Thank you, guys…. Really." He then moved over to her feet and started to heave her legs into his arms. They were a lot lighter than her torso (thank God) but they were still pretty heavy for feeling so slender. "Can you get her arms?" Iggy asked Dylan, as polite a tone as he could. He didn't want to risk the boy suddenly dropping out on him.

Dylan didn't say anything but walked purposefully to the girls shoulders, grunting a bit as he managed to hook her arms in the crook of his elbows. "Sheesh, Gazzy, you weren't kidding. What does this girl have on her?"

The two boys straightened, shifting her so that they both had as much weight as they could handle, and unfurled their wings. Normally, it would have taken two easy strokes to clear the trees and get going, but flying with their cargo made it a bit more difficult. Luckily there was a break in the branches right above them, so they wouldn't have to worry about any fancy maneuvering. It still took 10 or 11 beats of their fifteen foot wingspans to clear them altogether though.

Iggy had to hand it to Dylan, again. He really was a natural flyer, now that he had had the time to practice. His strength was the greatest of the flock, so even with this new weight he was having a better time of it than Iggy was. The two ended up holding her by her wrists and ankles, while Gazzy carried her backpack and stayed under them in case they needed a bit of help. When Iggy and Gazzy had first gone out flying, it had taken them only about five or six minutes of hard flight from the house to where Iggy heard the girl's mysterious noise. Now, after ten minutes of struggle and furious flapping, they still weren't even in sight of the house.

Dylan and Iggy would stop in every little clearing they saw to catch their breath before trying to move on again. It seemed like ages before the roof of their home came in sight. Gazzy swooped down with the backpack and set it down on the porch before flying back up to help the two bigger boys with their load.

"Where are we gonna put her?" the blond nine-year-old asked. "We can't just plop her down on the kitchen table."

Iggy spoke quickly, before Dylan could. "Let's put her in my room. It's the farthest from Max and the bed is right by the window." He knew that the bed being so close to them without having to go inside was ideal; that way Max wouldn't see the girl right away and the boys could just drop her through the window. He hoped that Dylan and Gazzy would see it that way, too.

He also couldn't help just wanting to keep her close. If she was in his room, it was easier to protect her.

"You're still going to tell Max, you know," Dylan hissed, trying to control his breathing as they hung suspended above the porch. Iggy could tell Dylan didn't have much energy to spare arguing. Just hovering with this girl wasn't exactly ideal either.

The three boys flapped furiously to the side of the house, to Iggy's eastern facing window. Gazzy was trying to help as best as he could from underneath, pushing up on her back for short little bursts of time to give the to bigger boys relief. When they were right in front of the window, the nine-year-old pried it open.

"Let's swing her in," Dylan huffed, and before Iggy had time to protest he had her by the wrists, swaying lightly with the shifting weight. Iggy almost lost a hold of her by the sudden change, but had her by the ankles. With a one… two… and a slight nudge from the Gasman, she plopped down onto Iggy's mattress, still unmoving.

One by one, the boys followed her into the room and shut the window behind them. "Go tell Max now." Sheesh, this kid didn't let any time go to waste. Iggy hesitated, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath and silently think of a way out of it.

He wasn't getting lucky.


	4. Max

Turns out, Max came to them. She stormed into the room, practically breaking down the door. Iggy could hear the bloodthirsty, protective snarl escape her throat before she realized it was just the three of them. Well, the four of them. No way Iggy could forget the unconscious girl on his bed with Max standing only feet away.

He heard Max's slight exhalation at the sight of them safe turn to a sharp intake of breath. She'd seen the girl.

"What the hell is this?" Even now, with a potential threat lying on one of her flock's beds, she still sounded hollow. It was as if the bipolar mood swings she was famous for were completely gone and all that was left was this little crappy façade she held in front of her. Iggy could tell she was weak. She had spent all of yesterday in her room- she hadn't even eaten most of the food they gave her. Thank whatever-deity-in-charge that no Flyboys had attacked them yet. She'd be dog food.

Iggy held up his hands in a sign of surrender, as if the trying to calm the anger that so obviously wasn't there. "She's unconscious and she might be hurt. I couldn't just leave her out there."

It was as if Max hadn't even heard him. She stomped over to Dylan and got up in his face, trying to intimidate the taller boy. Wouldn't have been too hard had her heart been in it. "You brought some weird girl back to the house? What the hell were you thinking? I want her taken back. She doesn't belong here and we can't keep her. The whitecoats could have some sort of trace on her for all we know. How could you be such an idiot?"

The blind boy stepped between them, bringing Max's attention back to him. "Look, I brought her here and she's staying until we can figure out more about her." Max's false fury was turned on him now, but he had told the two boys that he would take their bullet.

"And what makes you think that you can decide what's best for this flock? Did that scumbag suddenly name you as leader when he left?"

Iggy could hear the slight touch of pain in her voice that the other kids would have missed. He knew it was going to hurt to bring Fang up into this, but she started it. "_Fang,_" he threw the word at her, "would have at least heard me out. He would have stopped to consider that it wasn't _all_ about him _all_ the time. That there are other people in this flock that matter just as much as the leader. And he would have let me keep her!"

"Excuse me? Don't try and make me look like the bad guy. I've always done what's best for the flock and I'm not stopping now." Iggy could feel her staggering, though her words flowed out smoothly. "She's a threat to the flock's safety and it was wrong to bring her here. You can't just endanger your family by making these kinds of stupid decisions. _You_ are the one not thinking about us first. _Take_. _Her_. _Back_."

"Oh, really? _I'm_ not thinking of us? So what was your excuse when you swooped down to save Ella when you should've flew on to go rescue Angel from the School? Where you thinking of us first then? And what about being all lovey-dovey with Fang? You two were so distracted by each other that you forgot about the rest of us completely. There were a lot of times when we were in danger and you weren't there to help us. Fang at least tried to do the right thing for the flock, even if it meant that the leader would have to suck it up and get back to _leading_!"

Iggy could practically feel Max's cringe getting deeper and deeper with each accusation he flung at her. But he was just finally saying the truth that nobody else had the guts to face. He was going to fight for this red-haired girl even if it meant he had to make Max face facts.

"You're allowed to help whoever random person you want so I can, too!" He felt their leader draw back at the sting of the harsh refusal to follow orders. Guess nothing was going her way anymore. "She'll be my responsibility and she'll stay with me. I'll keep an ear on her and make sure she isn't some psycho crazy killer wanting to terrorize us in our sleep, but the bottom line is… I'm keeping her."

Iggy couldn't help but notice the childish possession in his own voice. Max noticed it, too, and she immediately fired back at him, trying to regain control of the situation.

"You don't know anything about her! Who is she to you that you would put us in harm's way to keep her safe? What if she _is_ some psycho crazy killer and the first one she kills is _you_? What if she gets her hands on Gazzy? Or Nudge? Or Angel? How would you feel then? Are you willing to risk the flock's lives over some random girl you don't even know? You're being stupid, Iggy. Fang would have told you the same."

"Oh, right," the blind boy sneered at her, "because he was always your little puppy dog following you around. 'Max is boss.' 'Whatever she says.' Look, oh fearless leader, I'm not being stupid. I'm doing what I think is right. I'm not going to let her hurt anyone if she is, in fact, a threat. And Fang would never have said something like that to one of us."

He could hear her breath go a little ragged at the edges, as if she was holding back tears. This wasn't Max. This was just a shadow of her. A crying, hollow, maybe even angry shadow.

"You're right, Iggy," she said quietly. "I'm sorry I said you were stupid. I'm not all together right now."

He almost felt sorry for her. Fang had taken a huge chunk out of her when he left. Hell, he left a giant gaping hole for all of them. And then the addition of Dylan was just another thorn in Max's side, telling her that she had lost the sanity of her own situation. She felt like she wasn't the one in control anymore. But she had people counting her. She needed to pull it together.

"But this isn't a good idea, Ig. We can't keep her here." It was more of an offering than a command. She was losing grip on this argument, too.

"I know that there's a risk. But I couldn't take it if I always had it in the back of my mind that I just left her there. I wouldn't be able to function if I knew that I had just left an unconscious girl lying out there where she can get eaten or something. Please, you have to understand that it was _right_ to bring her, even if it wasn't smart."

Iggy had his eyebrows scrunched together in obvious worry at the thought of something happening to the red head. Max was hesitating, no doubt looking at him with that same worry he had on his face. It was quiet for a moment and then Gazzy spoke up.

"Max," he started slowly, hesitating, "can we just keep her for a day? Then we can figure out a new place to move her to, far enough away from the house to keep everybody safe, but close enough so Iggy can be with her. I just don't want to see everyone fighting like this." His voice broke a little on the end of that sentence, making Iggy feel immediately guilty about his outbursts. If he himself was having a hard time, how bad must this have been for the Gasman? He was only nine years old.

Max felt it, too, and she immediately went to him. She hugged him close to her, that familiar thud of contact Iggy heard between them making him feel better about Gazzy. Max would never be completely gone, not while she still had them. "That sounds pretty fair," she murmured into the blonde head tucked into her.

Dylan finally came back into the picture, clearing his throat a little to get the other kids' attention. "I can go out and look for a place. Someplace high and dry. I'm sure there's something on the canyon." Ever the helpful one, that Dylan. Not saying a word when either side was fighting for their way, but still puppy-dogging to Max. Real original.

Max ignored him and went to sit on the bed, still holding Gazzy's hand. Iggy tensed but let her be. As long as Gazzy was still close to her, she wouldn't pull anything lethal.

"Do you know how she got like this?" She still had that empty-ish sound, but at least she was trying to be in command.

"No," Iggy responded reluctantly, and he explained to her what he had already told Dylan and Gazzy.

"We don't know how she got here, either," said Dylan. Again, ever the helpful one.

"Iggy said he heard something," the Gasman offered. "What did you hear Ig?"

The tallest boy didn't really know how to explain it. Any way he said it could make it sound like something dangerous, especially since it sounded vaguely metallic. He knew that Max's mind would go directly to Flyboys. "I don't know what I heard. I only knew that I'd never heard it before, and it didn't sound natural."

"So, of course, you just go towards the strange, unnatural sound."

It was then that Iggy noticed how old Max sounded. She was so resigned, her weight shifting on the bed in a way that might indicate she was slumping. The way she had said that didn't even have the right amount of sarcasm in it, she just said it like she was making sure she got the facts straight.

"You didn't hear anyone else in the area? Gazzy, you didn't see anything? Where were you guys anyways?"

The Gasman shook his head vigorously to the first question. "We were just taking the regular route. The one over the canyon. We found her about twenty miles from the lake on the south end."

Max finally regarded Dylan. "And when did _you_ get there?"

The youngest member of the flock shrugged. "Gasman came and got me around an hour ago. It only took like five minutes to get out there, but this girl is beyond heavy."

"Well, what is she? Like, one-twenty?" She had one of her more sarcastic tones on, as if she were making fun of them for not being able to lift the seemingly light load.

"No, she was pretty heavy," Dylan responded, like he totally missed the little jab. "I'd guess around one-seventy or one-eighty."

"One-eighty?" Funny how Max seemed to have more emotion when she was talking with Dylan. She sounded pretty close to incredulous.

"Yeah," Iggy agreed, "Heavy like you wouldn't believe."

Max was silent a moment, probably looking at the girl more closely now. "And that hair. Never seen quite that shade of red before."

_Neither have I_, Iggy had to bite his lip to keep from saying. Of course, he hadn't actually _seen _it. He'd felt it. It was warm, like you could just hug the color to you and not get burned. The boy started to blush in embarrassment as he realized he wanted to touch it again. He shoved his hands into his pockets and tried to cool his burning face. _It seemed to suit her. New color for a new girl…_ Now he was blushing again. What was going on? First the fascination with a color (but it was _her_ color… not that that should make a difference anyways), then this insane need to keep her close (only to protect her, he was sure). Totally unreasonable.

Why should he feel responsible for her anyways? She was nothing more than a color to him. Whatever she had been doing out in the middle of the canyon had probably gotten her into her current situation. She could be on the run from someone just as much as the flock was constantly on the run from the whitecoats. What if she was running from the police? In the few seconds of silence that had sustained itself between the present members of the flock, Iggy listened to the redhead breathe. Soft, even wisps of what could've been sleep. So innocent. It was almost too hard to believe she could be some psycho with a bounty on her head. He let that _almost_ hang in the air above his thoughts before finally dropping it.

She mattered to him because she was a person. She was human, like most of what he was. She was someone who needed help. Someone who didn't have control over their own situation. She had lost consciousness. Max had lost Fang. Iggy had lost his sight, a memory still painful and forever present in his mind. All the flock had lost their chance of ever being normal. This redhead stranger was like the rest of the flock in a way that it didn't matter what was wrong with her. She was, as of right now, homeless. And she need someone. She needed Iggy.

Max brought Iggy out of his thoughts. "Well, I guess since she's already here there isn't a whole lot we can do now. Gazzy and Dylan, you guys can head out and find some hidey-hole or whatever to put her in. Keep below the radar and get under cover immediately if you see anything or hear anything. Iggy, I'd send you with them, but you probably don't want to leave your little prize here alone with me. I'll contact the g—"

Iggy stopped her little tirade of leadership with a sharp retort. "She is not my prize. She's my responsibility, and I'll fly with the guys. I trust she'll be okay here." He finished his statement with a note of expectectation, one eyebrow raised, waiting for her agreement.

There was a short pause before, "Okay then, you can go with them, Ig." As if she had any control over Iggy anymore. Then she addressed all three of them. "But I want all of you back here before dark. I still don't trust this girl and I don't really believe she was just lying out there all by her lonesome. And Iggy, I want to make it clear that after tonight, she is not allowed near any of the younger ones."

Max cut off his protest before he had a chance to say it. "Don't even argue this one with me. You may believe everything is hunky-dorey, but I don't. And I'm already letting you keep her so you can just give me this one and call it even."

Iggy kept his mouth shut. It was enough for him.

"Alright," Max said, "now you guys better get back fast before I change my mind."


	5. A Whole New World

Whden I finally regained consciousness, I didn't move. I kept my breathing even and low, and my eyes closed, giving the illusion of still being under. Jeesh, that crazy lady wasn't kidding. It was like a freight train going 90 miles an hour drove straight into the back of my head. For how long had I been out?

I took a mental inventory of my condition without moving, checking if all my vitals were intact. My muscles were sore as hell and my fingers and toes still felt dead. Shit, my head hurt! The part in contact with the ground especially. It seemed I was lying on some hard yet sandy-ish floor, and it seemed I had been there a long time. I figured I was outside when a light breeze wafted over me. Where the hell am I? Some beach-y, cold, rock world where the people are all stone beasts? I was itching to get up and stretch, to un-flatten the back of my head from where I was lying. But something was telling me to keep myself down. I didn't hear anything, but I didn't think I was alone. Y ko had said that I would be "discovered," so I doubted I'd be alone for very long.

I listened more intently for any signs of life around me. There was plenty of wind, and the way it whistled over to my right suggested that it could be hitting a gap or something. So maybe I was in a tent? No, I couldn't hear the usual flapping a tent makes when the wind hits it. Although, speaking of flapping

At first it sounded like a bird, just flying by a little ways away from where I was lying. Very soft and light, what I would imagined a hawks flight would sound like. But then it got louder and closer, and the wing flaps sounded like they were much larger than a hawk. As it still got closer, I started to panic. Oh my god, was I going to be eaten on my first day of consciousness by some huge mutant winged thing! I fought to keep myself still, trying desperately to keep up the illusion of being knocked out or something. I almost broke when I heard something rustle to my left but, hey, I was a natural drama kid. I could keep a straight face if it killed me. The rustle sounded like someone getting up from sitting. I heard a grunt and a jacket scooting up the wall, and I guessed that whoever they were, they had been sitting on the floor for a long time, too.

I heard the wing-flaps fairly loudly outside, and the gushes of wind kicked up some of the loose dirt from the floor and tickled my nose. Oh my god, please, for the love of all that is holy, DO NOT SNEEZE, I told myself silently. The flapping got more rapid and then died down, as if the bird-thing was landing. I heard two feet (or whatever this thing had for feet) land softly on the ground not ten feet from me. A voice followed shortly after.

"I'm here to relieve you." A guy's voice. And, apparently, heavy with sarcasm.

"Finally," a girl's voice responded back. "Are the kids all still in the house?" The kids? Not their kids, are they? These two people didn't sound very old. Maybe teenagers, although the girl's voice did seem a little mature. It also had a little of something else in it. I couldn't put my finger on it exactly sadness, maybe?

"Yup, they're all present and accounted for. Humbly confined to the house, as ordered by our fearless leader." Again, the sarcasm in his voice was not unnoticed.

"Alright, Ig, cut it out. I'm going out to get food. Real food, no dumpster diving. I'm taking Angel with me to see if she can't work her magic on some of the local grocers. Anything you want in particular?" Before the boy had a chance to answer, the girl cut him off. "Oh wait, I forgot, I already gave you everything I will ever give you. Ever." With that the girl walked over to where the guy had come from and the flapping started again. "Be careful, Ig," she said as a parting warning, and I heard an almost motherly tone in her voice. "Don't let your guard down."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." The sarcastic one, Ig, settled down in the same place where the girl had been before. There was more flapping as whatever it was that landed took off again. From the place where Ig was now sitting, there came the sound of him settling into his spot, rustling and skidding to get comfortable.

Well, they both sounded normal enough, I thought, even if the guy had a weird name. Maybe it would be okay to open my eyes now? It did sound like they had been watching me, but that might have been more out of fear or wariness than out of being protective. Who knows? Maybe they'd never seen the likes of me before. I couldn't help but wonder how much of an alien I must look like to them. Maybe they couldn't even contemplate how I had two arms when they had four. It would be kinda cool to have four arms; you can have a sandwich in one hand, a drink in another, and still have two available to hold a Playstation controller

"Well, she's gone now," Ig said, startling me a bit, but not enough to break my character. I heard him (assuming it was a him; maybe the females on this world had the deep voices?) stretch and slide over closer to me, to sit next to me. I was pretty sure he had two legs, but couldn't be sure.

Note to self: totally kick Y ko's ass the next time I could for not giving me more info.

I felt light brushes across my face and almost cringed away from them. Was he touching me? It took most of my strength of will to keep still and expressionless. Why the hell was this guy touching my face?

"You feel better today," he murmured, not really talking to me I supposed but talking to himself. "More color in your cheeks. You must be waking up."

Shit, maybe they see through their hands? Assuming, of course, the things that had brushed over my face were fingers and not something crazy, like, feathers or something. They had just too light of a touch to be fingers but, then again, I counted ten of them. His "fingers" passed over my lips and lightly over my nose, and I got an almost overwhelming urge to sneeze again. I stopped breathing, trying to keep myself from blowing snot and my cover all over the place. Even though I did it as discreetly as I could, I felt his fingers freeze on my face, just over my eyelids.

"Oh, shit," he breathed, and I could hear a tone of panic in his voice, making him sound younger. His hands cupped my face (I was almost sure they were hands now) and I could hear him shifting anxiously over me. He shook my face a little. "Oh, shit "

I was still holding my breath and lying motionless, trying to decide whether it was better to just stay like this or to breathe. But my friggin' nose was still itching! And my cover was already pretty much blown.

"Shit, breathe!" He shook my face again and, before I had the chance to respond, I felt a hard pressure on my lips and warm breath being forced into my lungs. I gasped and my eyes fluttered open. I shoved him off me and swung my fist in the direction of his face. It slammed into his cheek with a satisfying smacking sound, knocking him from where he had been kneeling to about 5 feet away. Gasping with the return of air, I rolled away from him and settled into what felt like a defensive crouch.

It took me a while for my eyes to adjust to the light after having been shut for so long. Panting, I waited for them to get comfortable in the shadows. "Ow!" Ig said, rubbing his face where I hit him. He looked human, albeit a pretty hot human, with sandy blond hair that had bits and pieces of strawberry blond in it, flopping a little in his eyes. From what I could tell of him on the floor, he must've been about six feet tall, give or take a few inches. He had a nice face, though now there was a small cut on his left cheek where my fist had split the skin. Wow, actually broke skin, I thought, kind of proud of myself for accomplishing that. That wasn't even too hard of a punch.

Ig turned in my direction, his eyes flickering angrily back and forth from a spot just above my head to where my feet were in the grit of the stone floor. I blinked in surprise at him. He was blind.

His expression softened to one of annoyance instead of anger. "You're awake," he muttered, wiping the back of his hand across the cut on his cheek, momentarily halting the bleeding. "You could've said something." His eyebrows were pressed together in a way that made him look really sort of cute.

I blushed as I realized the direction my thoughts had been taking and didn't say anything. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness passed over me, making me teeter a little bit in my stance before I steadied myself. Lack of breathing + getting up too fast = not a great feeling.

I squeezed my eyes shut and put a hand to my head, groaning softly. "Oh, geez," Ig said, scooting closer to me. He knelt far enough away that I wasn't panicking, but close enough to reach out a hand to me. His fingers brushed over mine, just where they were rubbing at my temple. How did he know where my head was if he couldn't see me? He drew his hand away just as I looked up at him.

Ig was crouching on one knee just two feet away, still within reach but not intruding. Flat blue-grey eyes, clouded over from blindness, where looking directly into mine in an almost unnerving way. "Why did you kiss me?" I blurted before thinking, my voice slightly thick from disuse.

I saw him shift a little uncomfortably, a light shade of pink rising to his cheeks. His blank eyes left my face to stare at the ground in embarrassment. "Uh, well you weren't breathing I couldn't " he looked up at me again without seeing, his face slightly accusatory. "For how long were you awake? Why did you stop breathing?"

I tried to answer quickly, not wanting to make him uncomfortable with my silence. After all, my voice was all he had to let him know where I was. "I wasn't awake for very long "  
I said and, in an attempt to evade the second question and avoid embarrassing myself, fired another question at him, my voice returning slowly to its normal tone. "Who was the other g "

I bit off my question, a more pressing one needing to be voiced. "Wait, are you I mean umm, what " There wasn't any way to put it politely, really. "Well, are you male?" I had to find out; curiousity was killing me. Shit, on another world you just never know.

He (maybe she) blinked at me, one of his/her eyebrows slightly higher than the other as he/she stared with his/her mouth slightly open. He/She looked like that for a moment more before starting to bust up laughing.

"What?" I asked, a little indignant. I thought it was a fair question.

"Well," he/she said, clearing his throat to stop from chuckling at me, "yes, I happen to be a male. And you are a female I presume?" He had this tone in his voice that bordered on sarcasm and cockiness, which was surprisingly annoying.

"Hey, look, it's an honest question. I'm not from " I bit my lip, realizing how crazy I was about to sound, "around here."

"What do you mean?" Ig had stopped laughing, now sincerely curious. He could tell that I had stopped myself from saying something else. I knew I'd better tread careful here.

I drew on my frightfully extensive experience with lying and acting and answered him smoothly, making myself sound normal and slightly embarrassed, the latter part not really all that difficult. "I grew up in a place where a lot of girls like to dress and act like guys. And vice versa. Some of them even have their sexes changed "

I let my voice trail off while he stared at me blankly (not all that hard, considering he's blind). When he responded I kept myself from giving a slight sigh of relief. "So what, are you from California or something?"

That made me pause. "Yeah, actually " I straightened up a bit. "You know about California?"

"Yeah," he gave me a look like he was just beginning to consider that I might be crazy. "Movie stars, beaches, Golden State Bridge, Gay Capital of the World. I'm pretty sure everyone knows about California."

So they had California in a different world. I wondered what else they had here like they did in my world. "Are we in the United States?"

"Last time I checked," he responded, regaining his tone of annoyance.

"How many states are there?"

Now he was pretty peeved. "Look, are you trying to figure out if I'm a complete imbecile or something? Cause I can tell you right now that even my little fail at public school was enough to let me know where I am. Just because y-"

I interrupted him quickly, "No! No, that's not what I meant! I was asking because I don't know."

I didn't really think of the implications of that statement until after I said it. Now the shit was really gonna hit the fan.

"What do you mean you don't " his eyes widened and any remnant of annoyance was gone. "Wait, are you having trouble remembering?"

"Uhh " Thank God he took it in that direction. "Depends "

Yeah, I thought, depends on whether you mean if I remember why I decided to listen to some crazy lady or remembering Y ko's shop's exact location. Man, that bitch is gonna get it!

"Okay, simple stuff first," he said. "What's your name?"

I bit my lip for a moment, deciding whether or not to tell him my real name. Y ko did say something about it really not mattering, one of only bits of useful information she gave me. Ig mistook my hesitation for not being able to remember. "Uh, okay if you don't remember, is it okay if I call you Red for right now?"

"Red? Why?"

His face turned a bit red for a moment and he avoided my gaze when he answered; I had no idea what for. "Well, your hair "

Oh. Right. I'm a redhead, so it would have made sense. I wasn't so sure I liked it though, to be identified by a color. It sounded like something you'd name a pet of some sort, like a horse or a dog. But wait a minute

"How did you know I was a redhead?" I immediately felt stupid for asking. The girl that was here before could have told him that. His answer just about knocked my friggin' socks off.

"Well," he hesitated, then it looked like he'd decided something and continued, "I can sort of feel colors."

"Wha ?" I swear I could almost feel my jaw hit the floor as I stared at him. "What do you mean you can feel "

"It's just something I can do." His sightless eyes looked away again and he had his eyebrows scrunched up in that cute worried expression. He must think that I think he's a freak

"Awesome," I said honestly. I grinned at him even though he couldn't notice it. But really, though, how useful must that have been? If you can't use your eyes, use your hands. No wonder he was touching my face and he noticed that I had color in my cheeks. Maybe this is what Y ko meant when she said each world would have something different. My curiousity was a-burnin' now. "How does that work?"

"Wait, you're okay with that?" He looked shocked at my response.

"Well, sure, is that normal?"

"No. Not really. I mean, it's normal for me, but "

He really looked like he was scrutinizing me, trying to figure me out as hard as I was trying to figure him out. Well, what? So that wasn't even supposed to be normal here? Where did Y ko friggin' send me? His face was furrowed in concentration and something that I could only call mistrust. I blushed under his false observance.

I didn't even have a few seconds before curiosity overtook me again. "So what's the extent of it then? Do you have to touch the thing to feel its color?"

He answered off-handedly, still observing me sightlessly but talking as if it was kind of natural. "Not all the time, but.."

He pulled up short and his face flashed in anger. Before I knew what was happening, he had me pinned against the wall, his hand gripping my neck and cutting off my air. I tried to say something along the lines of "what the fuck are you doing," but all that came out was a few pitiful wheezes.

He got up in my face. "Why are you asking so many questions? Who sent you?"

He squeezed tighter when I didn't answer immediately. I was clawing at his hands, my feet kicking out under me and sliding on the grit of the floor. I looked desperately around the room, as if I would find some help there. But wait, there was something. Something moving just behind him. It shifted again as he tried to move me further up the wall, but I was too heavy for him. He grunted and screamed, "Answer me!" succeeding in scooting me up a bit further. That inch or two was all I needed.

I saw the feathers. The tips stretching and moving as he struggled with my weight. The softer down at the top.

My eyes widened and I stopped moving. Ig noticed that and dropped me, standing over me and looking down with beautiful unseeing eyes, like a blind and furious angel.

And they stretched out behind him, confident and glorious.

Wings.


	6. Flyboys

**Author's Note: Okay, usually I hate leaving notes like this but in this situation, it couldn't be helped. If the following few paragraphs seem as if you've seen them before, it's because you have (atleast, all my previous readers have). I didn't mean to post the similar part of the story in the previous part of the chapter, and I have now edited it out and vastly changed the previous story. In this version, Iggy _doesn't_ know how crazy Rachel is yet, and the story has taken a more action-packed turn. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, and I'm just letting you know that Chapter 5's content was changed and that the stuff you're about to read still fits with it. Please enjoy despite all the confusion! :)**

If blind eyes could burn holes, I'd be reduced to ashes by now. Too bad I didn't notice them so much. Those wings . . . his wings . . .

I watched the feathers shift and sway in anticipation of flight. They were so alive, so real, so . . . beautiful . . .

"What did you say?" Ig's voice still dripped with venom, but a thread of confusion was beginning to show. Oops, did I say that out loud?

His voice reminded me that the wings were attached tjo him, that he was in front of me, that I was crumpled pitifully on the floor. And that my nose was runny and drops of salty liquid were beginning to soak into my shirt. When did I start crying?

"Huh?" I asked. Wierd. Your voice can crack in the time it takes to utter a one-syllable word.

Ig blinked in confusion. "Wait, are you crying?"

He took a step towards me, looking like he wanted to either check if I was or to try and comfort me. He stopped himself and remembered to look fierce. God, the poor kid just did not know what to do with himself.

I sniffled and laughed a little. At him. At me. "Sorry. . ." I said, wiping my eyes on my jacket. What little eyeliner I was wearing came off as a dark, wet smear across the already dark sleeve. Ig had the most incredulous look on his face, I had to bite back another teary snicker.

"What did yo-"

His expression changed entirely, and he straightened up and cocked his head slightly to the side, listening to something. He looked determined and angry and panicky all at once. After the second it took for him to recognize whatever sound he heard, "panicky" seemed to win dominance.

"Oh no."

Okay, maybe not "panicky." "Horrified" seemed the appropriate word. I couldn't hear anything, but the look on his face sent shivers down my spine.

"We have to get out of here," Ig said.

He lunged towards me so suddenly, I let out an embarrassingly girly squeal. He grabbed my arm and pulled me up with a little difficulty, speaking rapidly, half to me and half to himself.

"I need you to hold on to me- wait! I can't carry you by myself! I need Dylan . . . Crap, you can't possibly take on a Flyboy. I don't think I can take on thirty by myself . . . I'm gonna have to. Okay, go to the back of the cave. It's gonna get ungly but keep quiet and stay as hidden as you can. In the shadows or something . . . "

He pulled me back into a dark corner that I hadn't noticed until I was a couple feet away. It was just big enough for me. He tried to force me in, but I held my ground fairly easily. Almost surprisingly so.

"What exactly are you planning on doing? What's a Flyboy? How will I-"

"Shut up"

He covered my mouth with his hand long enough to pause my flow of questions. The same hand that had brushed over my face in concern just minutes before. The same hand that had clenched around my neck. He was standing over me, so close it started to make me a bit uncomfortable. He smelled like the wind, like the dry earth of the cave. I didn't know what to make of him. He didn't seem to be eager to trust me, and I was pretty sure he wouldn't hesitate to hurt me if I was a danger to him. But at the same time, he was defending me now, when he could just as easily fly away.

As he turned back around towards the cave's opening, his beautiful, powerful wings tensing in readiness, his entire figure silhouetted by the fading light outside, it dawned on me. He was important to me. If for any other reason than that he had WINGS, then because he chose to fight for me against whatever it was he was so afraid of.

"Wait . . ." I had whispered so softly that I didn't think he would hear it, but he "looked" back at me. He looked like a child again, stubbornly determined and brave. A very sexy child.

"Stay back," he warned, forcefully but not unkindly.

It was then that I heard them. The Flyboys, if I remembered correctly. Whatever they were, they had wings- the flapping noise told me that much. And there were a lot of them. Maybe even thirty like Ig had said.

Ig snapped out his wings, all fourteen feet of them. Each feather tip glowed from the sunlight behind him, so he looked like an avenging angel. He ran towards the edge of the cave and my breath caught in my throat as he threw himself over, letting his grey-flecked wings catch the wind.

Everything happened very quickly after that.

No sooner had Ig cleared the cave than the first Flyboy crashed into view. I didn't know what it was. It was huge and furry, with a wolfish face and eyes that glowed red. It's wings were meaty and massive, not graceful like the wings of the boy he was assaulting. Three more opponents dropped to his level, and it looked like the four hulking wolfmen were gonna gangbang him or something. Ig somersaulted in mid-air away from his first attacker, wings tucked in tight, to land a slicing kick directly on the neck of the beast behind him. It jerked awkwardly and the light faded in it's eyes as it dropped out of view. So, they were robots then.

Ig didn't hesitate with his next move, judging perfectly where the next Flyboy was and executing an aerial roundhouse kick to it's chest, knocking it back. As another attacker flew towards him, Ig's fist slammed into it's elongated jaw with a resounding CRACK, sending it's head snapping back as that one dropped as well. But more Flyboys were surrounding him, clustering and making it hard for me to see him. He was a flurry of kicks and punches and gutteral shouts, trying to be everywhere at once. He was severely outnumbered.

He was curling in on himself, trying to drop out from under the attackers and regain his "footing", when one of the Flyboys caught hold of his wing. Ig yelped in pain as it yanked him back up with it's clawed hand. The beast then kicked hard into Ig's stomach, with a swift motion that looked sickeningly like he was drop-kicking him. I heard the boy's breath leave him in a swift _whoosh_ and watched his face contort in pain as he was flung mercilessly back in through the cave opening. He landed hard on the dirt floor and was scrambling in the dust, trying to stand up and face his enemy. He had barely made it to his feet when a Flyboy that had managed to squeeze it's bulk into the smallish area slammed it's fist across his face.

It was as if Ig expected it though, because he used the momentum to spin himself into a butterfly kick, connecting swiftly with the monster's neck. The light faded from that one's eyes as well. But more were landing in the cave, struggling around each other to attack the singular boy they chose to target for some reason. Ig tried to hold his ground but was losing steam. One furry claw managed to slice into his arm while another kick was just barely avoided. The kid was getting backed into the wall, and more were coming. He was going to lose.

It was when I saw one of the Flyboys leveling a gun towards Ig from behind that it happened. I was moving before I mentally registered what I was doing.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I shrieked as I flung myself at the gun-wielding monster. I leaped onto his back and grabbed a hold of his big head, one hand on an ear and the other on the toothy wolf muzzle. And just like I had seen in a movie once (albeit, on a _human_ opponent), I used all my strength to wrench his head viciously to the side and break it's neck. And it worked.

The gunman crumpled underneath me as it's neck made a satisfied popping sound, it's (I was assuming) metal cranium separating from the spinal column in the force of the thrust. I was still on top of the thing's back, staring down on it in shock, when some of the Flyboy's attacking Ig turned to notice me. _No way! I shouldn't have been able to do that!_

The first Flyboy to notice me took a step towards me, and adrenaline shot through me like I had shot up straight espresso into my veins. I let my instincts take over and rolled off my felled creature's back, grabbing the gun out of it's chunky claw and straightening back up. I fired two shots at my new attacker, the explosions of the gun coupled with the satisfying screech of the contact between bullets and metal. It fell to the ground, too. Thank whatever-deity-was-up-there that I never turned down a chance to go to the shooting range.

I spun into action, firing quick shots at the Flyboys surrounding Ig to give him the opportunity to spring back into action. The cannonfire sound of the gun in the cave didn't seem to disorient him too much and he lunged back into the fray, snarling. I spotted an opening amidst the chaos and sprinted to his side to fire at the monsters coming in from behind. Back to back, we fought off the monstrous horde, fists swinging and gun blazing. But there were so many of them, and their hulking forms were beginning to take up too much space on the floor.

"Ig! Can you get into the air? We're losing ground," I shouted as I shot down another Flyboy who was sprinting towards me. His body stuttered and collapsed to the floor on top of another fallen body.

"I can try! We can't hold them off forever!"

He tried to make a break for it but was forced back by two pairs of swing, furry fists. We needed back-up, and fast.

It wasn't until the last of my remaining bullets ran out that I heard a terrifying screech from outside. A girl that looked to be about my age flew into view and slammed into a Flyboy with a speed that seemed impossible. The sheer force of the blow thrust it out of view and I assumed into the cliff face outside, and there was a loud, crashing crunch from its general direction. The girl spun back towards another monster and landed a swift uppercut into it's jaw before I saw the others.

There were four more bird-kids besides the first girl, and some crazy ball of black stuff with wings. They were all issuing battle cries at their opponents and Iggy glanced up, hope spreading through his features. "Max!" he cried.

The girl responded, "We're here, Iggy!" before slamming her fist into the muzzle of a close-by wolfman.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another Flyboy lunging at me, claws outstretched and eyes glowing an inhuman red, and I knew I wouldn't have any time to defend myself before it was on top of me. I spun to face it, to atleast brace myself for contact.

A flurry of blonde hair and white feathers flashed in front of me and sprung out at my attacker. With a feral scream and a look like death, a little girl clawed at the monster's face and smashed her little fists into it with more strength than I would've thought possible for someone of her size. The blonde dispatched of my attacker in a matter of seconds before hurling herself at another opponent. I followed suit and turned to face one to my left, wielding my now useless firing weapon as a bludgeon of sorts and smashing one of it's surreal, glowing eyes.

With the arrival of our helpers, the battle was concluded in a matter of minutes. Heaps of fur and metal were strewn everywhere, and I was sure if I looked outside and down the cliff I would see more brown bodies clustered on the distant ground. Seven panting humanoid bodies, including me, were left standing, along with that little black winged thing I saw earlier, who was now yipping so hard, it's little body lifted from the floor with every bark of indignation.

It was a little Scottie dog like the one from the Wizard of Oz. Only with wings.

This day just kept getting wierder and wierder.


	7. More Powers?

I didn't even get the chance to try and catch my breath before the girl named Max whirled on me.

Actually, all the bird kids were glaring at me with suspicion, panting, with their fists still clenched and their wings still outstretched for flight. I shuddered at the sight of them, all of them, in their beauty. But it was their wings that I noticed the most, and I tried to focus on the person attached to them.

I took all of them in quickly, trying not to stare too long at any of them. On the left stood a blonde boy that looked like he could be the older, male version of the little girl that had rescued me, and next to him was a young black girl with a grossly split lip. Max came from their side to stand in front of me, flanked by a freakishly sexy supermodel-type boy with a menacing, bloodthirsty look in his eyes. The blonde girl, who couldn't have been more than eight or nine, stood a bit apart from the group with a sort of creepy appraising look. Closer to my right was Ig, or Iggy, like Max called him, putting pressure on his cut arm. He wasn't "looking" at me, though. His blind eyes were focused on his friends.

When Max took a menacing step towards me, accusatory words already formed, Iggy stepped in front of me.

"She defended me in the fight. I wouldn't have lasted until you guys got here without her help."

The way he told her made me a bit nervous, like he was pleading for my life or something. I tore my eyes away from the beautiful expanse of his wings in front of me to peer around him at Max. She did look like she was ready to murder me.

She snarled at Iggy. "Don't stand so close to her!"

"I'm not afraid of her. Well, actually, with how many Flyboys she took out before you got here, I probably should be." He threw a grin back at me before turning back to the others. All of their wings fluttered nervously at that, and it shocked me. My attention was redrawn to the gun I still held like a club. I quickly dropped it and kicked it to the side, separating myself from the threat it had posed. What was he thinking? Not that I minded, but it was like he really trusted me now. This kids trust organs must have been bipolar.

"Have Angel check her," he said, nodding towards the little blonde ball-of-fury that saved my ass before. "She's fine."

Have Angel check me? What the hell could he mean by that? I shifted nervously from foot to foot as Angel continued to appraise me, staring eerily in my eyes, as if she was trying to peel me open, layer by layer. What was she going to do?

"I'm not going to do anything to you," she said, and I blinked in surprise. Somehow I was imagining a bit gruffer of a voice, or something in her tone to belie that whirling dervish of tooth and claw I'd seen before. She grinned at me, as if she was sincerely amused.

"Whirling dervish of tooth and claw? That's a new one," she laughed at me.

Holy shit. She was a mind reader. My wildest dream comes true, I fight wolf-monsters off with guns a-blazing, I find out that there are not only people with wings but freaking _dogs_ with wings, _and_ I meet a mind reader _in the same day_. What are the odds of that?

"Aside from the cussing," Angel continued, smirking at me again before addressing Max, "she seems to check out alright. It seems like it's the first time she's seen anything like us. She's never met a Flyboy either."

When she said that, she nudged one of the bodies with her foot, as if it wasn't some huge killing machine, but something barely interesting anymore. Man, this chick was a badass.

"Seriously," she said with a pointed look at me. "_Cussing_."

"Oh, sorry," I muttered, afraid to raise my voice any louder than a whisper. Max was still glaring daggers at me, and Supermodel Sidekick was mimicking her perfectly. The rest of the group, apart from Iggy and the two angry bird-kids in front of him, had relaxed a bit at Angel's "OK."

Shi-I mean, sheesh, the addition of a mind reader _had_ to make things easier in the group. Wait, so let's recap: Iggy was blind but could _feel_ colors, and Angel could mind-read. Were they the only ones with powers like that? I mean, come on, wings are definitely enough, but, what if they all had something more. Did everyone on this world have wings? I mean, even the dog and the bad guys had them…

Speaking of the dog, he had trotted around Iggy to come and sniff my leg. He was so cute, panting and with his big, black eyes blinking up at me. I felt the insane urge to pet him, but I seriously doubted the intelligence of that, what with Max being so pissed.

He sniffed around my shoes, probably just absorbing my newness. He turned around and trotted back to Angel, cute little tail swishing back and forth.

"She's smells funny."

I couldn't help it. My jaw dropped open in the most embarrassing way. Did that dog just _talk_?

Angel answered my thoughts. "Yes, Total can talk. The hard part is getting him to shut up." She smiled as the little dog lept from the ground into her waiting arms easily, and she petted him lovingly between the ears. Wait a minute, bird kids exist, so do mind-readers and color-feelers, and a talking dog makes me pause?

Cra-err… was "crap" okay to think? Too late, anyways. It was kind of hard to watch what I was thinking. I mean, I go off on weird tangents all the time. Angel was bound to kick me out of the group once she saw how messed up and crazy my mind could be…

_I'm not a danger to you, I promise, _I thought hard in her direction. I squinted my eyes and my eyebrows furrowed together in my intense concentration. I imagined my thoughts flowing towards her head, like the chocolate bar from Willy Wonka did when he was sending it through the air to the tv. I imagined them rearranging themselves in her head, smaller and less loud. She smiled at my efforts but didn't say anything yet.

Meanwhile, Max began interrogating Iggy.

"Where is she from, then? Do you even know that much?" She never took her eyes off me. Ha, just like in that one song… _All the time she was standin' there she never took her eyes off me…_

Ig answered her smoothly. "California. But I think she's having trouble remembering things, she couldn't remember her name earlier. I'm calling her Red for right now."

He cast a worried glance back at me, like he was really concerned over my memory loss. I blushed a little, partly out of shame and partly out of his concern for me. I should've spoken up about the name thing, I was making him worry about me unnecessarily. Besides, either I said something, or Angel did, and I figured I'd get more brownie points for being truthful.

"Actually, my name's Rachel," I said softly. I was still afraid of speaking too loudly with Max and Supermodel Sidekick staring me down so viciously. "Sorry, I didn't tell you before, Ig."

"Don't talk to him!" Max snarled. My god, she could be menacing! She was like Mother Bear on high alert, the only thing keeping her from tearing my head clean off was the one cub that stood between me and her. "Get away from him!" she ordered. "Get up against the far wall, hands up!"

I followed her directions quickly, not wanting more trouble. Her wings ruffled agitatedly, almost smacking the Sidekick in the face. He sidestepped them smoothly, not once taking his eyes off my face.

"Max," Iggy began.

"Don't start with me, Ig," she interrupted, only softening her tone slightly when addressing her cub. "I'm doing this my way. You got a problem with that, tell it to somebody who cares."

She strode towards me, pushing Iggy aside when he tried to stop her. She stopped in front of me, three feet away from my uncomfortable position, so that the ceiling wasn't too low for her to stand at her full height. Now that I got a closer look, I noticed she was actually kind of pretty. But it was in a tough way, like, _I dare you to call me that to my face._ She had brown hair and eyes and was roughly my height. Her anger seemed to make her taller.

Just as she was opening her mouth to question me, Ig did probably the stupidest thing he could have done in that situation.

"Max, if you hurt her, I swear," he began to threaten.

She spun back around so fast I barely registered the movement.

"What?" she screamed, just as I pleaded, "Please Ig, don't…"

I shouldn't have said anything. She turned back to me and snarled, throwing a hard punch at my face. It connected squarely with my cheek, causing me to tear up a bit at the sting. I stood there rubbing my face and not saying anything more.

She straightened up and blinked at me, confused. In fact the entire room looked confused, with the exception of Iggy, who was blindly livid upon hearing the smacking sound Max's fist had made with my cheek.

"WHAT THE HELL, MAX!" he shrieked, rushing towards the two of us. He pushed past her to me, took a hold of my shoulder, and pulled me away from the wall. Max took a few steps back as I was forced towards her by Iggy. He grabbed my other shoulder and forced me to look at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked. He brushed his fingers lightly over my face and paused over my hurt cheek, which had probably begun to turn red from the impact. His concerned face was very close to mine because he had to duck in the cramped space, and I blushed a little at the proximity. Great, he was probably interpreting that as redness from the punch as well. _Hey-Zeus, Rachel, pull yourself together._

I glanced out of the corner of my eye at the rest of the bird-kids, wondering why they were just standing there, shocked.

"Why the hell would you punch her?" Ig continued. "She didn't do anything to anyone! You can't come near her-"

"Ig," she interrupted quietly, still looking at me confusedly.

"WHAT? What do you have to say?"

"Ig, I punched her as hard as I could…"

I didn't really get the significance of this, I only thought that if _that_ was as hard as she could punch she must've had a hard time with the Flyboys. I mean, the sting was already starting to die away.

"Darn frickin' right, you did! She'll be lucky if she doesn't have a concussion…"

He slowed down at that, something registering in his mind the same as the others. He took a step back from me, looking unseeingly at me but practically thinking aloud. "Wait, she hit you as hard as she could?"

I looked around at all of them, starting to freak out a little. What was wrong? Seven pairs of eyes gazed questioningly on me, and I had no answer for their invisible question. I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"What?"


End file.
